


Reminders of Home

by BarPurple



Series: Writer's Block [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Music, The Enchanted Forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9408167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: As she travelled around the Enchanted Forest Belle kept bumping into people from Avonlea.





	

Belle was surprised at how easy it was to travel, she’d always imagined it to be some great under taking fraught with great challenges and perils unknown. That was always how the ladies of her father’s court described it, but once she’d got herself some practical clothes it actually became a bit dull. Oh there were still problems in the form of idiot men who thought she was an easy target, but the dagger at her belt wasn’t a mere accessory. Her books and the tales Papa’s knights had told made everything seem like such a great adventure, but they never mentioned the mundane practicalities like making sure you carried enough food and water, or being able to tell a good inn from one that overcharged for bad food and flea infested beds.

Apart from being a woman traveling alone something else marked her out as unusual, her accent. The lilt and lift of Avonlea was still present enough in her speech that is was noticeable. And people did take notice; Belle found friends along the road each with a similar tale to tell, each who told that tale in the accent of her homeland.

Many people had fled before the ogres got to close. The whole Enchanted Forest was dotted with refugees from home. Belle stopped at an inn run a strange lady who made her nervous with her thoughtful gazes, but she made Belle breakfast without any fuss. As soon as Belle thanked her for her kindness the lady had smiled.

“You’ve from Avonlea, so am I been a long while since I’ve been back, but I always know a countryman.”

They talked about the distant land of their birth; the lady asked for news, Belle chose her words carefully and told her the ogres had been defeated without going into much detail, she was always cautious telling the tale of her deal just in case she slipped up and revealed her identity. The lady had been eager for the news, but didn’t press for more than Belle was willing to tell.

In another village Belle bought bread from a huge muscled baker, the language here was different and Belle was still stuttering while trying to make herself understood. When she asked in Common if the baker spoke her language he grinned at her and handed her a soft brown bread that was traditional in Avonlea and waved her offer of payment away. One more native of her homeland had helped her on her journey.

She mistook an opium den for an inn one night, as she was edging her way back out of the door a slack jawed man caught her arm and told her she came from the land of plenty. It was a name Avonlea hadn’t lived up to since the ogres came. She didn’t respond and he let go of her arm flopped back onto his pallet and began singing a ballad she’d never heard before about the brave lady of Avonlea. 

She slept in a barn that night the distant rumble of thunder made her think of home, but it wasn’t her father’s castle that occupied her mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Down Under - Men at Work


End file.
